hi, first let me say what a great site this is, very informative indeed . i discovered the site when i was searching the net for my next camera , i have been using a small fuji finepix E900 compact for the last year ( a great little camera btw ), and have decided that it,s time to move on . i was looking at the fuji s9600 , but then i saw that fuji is bringing out the new S100FS mentioned above . i really do not want the hassle and expense, buying and changing lenses and so on , of a full dslr , so this look,s very interesting to me . i will wait for gordons review with interest . meanwhile , here is a link to all the details about this new camera .
the sample images look impressive to my eye .
http://www.fujifilm.com/products/digital_cameras/s/finepix_s100fs/index.html

As you and Gordon say, the S100FS certainly looks very interesting. They haven't gone too mad with the pixel count and while a 2/3" sensor only has, if I've got my sums right, less than one fifth the light collecting area of a typical DSLR sensor it could have been a lot worse. I expect you have noted that all of the sample images you refer to were taken at ISO 100 and so neatly sidestep the expected sensor noise issues we might see at the higher ISO numbers that might be needed in less brightly lit scenes. The ability to save in RAW will be useful in that respect for those special photos that might benefit from extra clean up.

I'm sure it will be a worthy successor to your current FinePix E900 but given the similar sensor sizes you might be wise to wait for those reviews if your main reason for upgrading is more to do with image quality than functionality. Of course, Gordon has covered the pros and cons of sensor sizes in his Should you buy a DSLR or a Compact? feature which also covers super-zooms. I'm also looking forward to the reviews.

Sensor size is an interesting point. Quite often the quoted sensor size includes (I think) the hardware surrounding the actual chip. For example, Fuji quoted the S9000/S9500 imager as 1/1.7" and that for the S6000/S6500 as 1/1.8". Yet the lens is exactly the same size and gave exactly the same 35mm lens equivalents. The only conclusion I could come to was that the S9000/S9500 had more hardware around the chip.

The other thing is that if you take lens equivalents, the Fuji has 6.6mm as equivalent to 28mm (in 35mm film terms), whereas a Nikon APSC has about 19mm as the same equivalent. That's three times the focal length. The imaging chip must be MUCH bigger. I don't know what they're quoting eith the Fuji S100, but it seems to be similar to its predecessors, maybe a little larger, but now the lens goes even longer and the camera is much the same size as its predecessors. So it's still a pretty small chip.

Not that there are too many problems in this area. As most of the people of this form must know by now I have an S6500, and the image quality is nothing to complain about - heavily processed but giving sharp photos at reasonably large sizes. The interesting point is that such a small chip can goie such a good result - not equivalent to a DSLR, but printing up very well.

However, there do seem to be significant quiality benefits in going to full frame in a DSLR and I may just skip APSC and wait for FF to become more reasonable in cost, picking up an S100 on the way to tide me over, if it is an improvement on the S6500..

I was wondering, because when I apply a little maths to the S6500, I get a diagonal for the imager of the order of 10mm, which is rather less that the 1/1.8" figures would seem to claim. This is really a great deal smaller than the diagonal of about 29mm for a Nikon. I much prefer to see the actual imager size, as with DSLRS (rather more honest). The small chips are cranking a lot out of a tiny area.

The Fuji 6500 has RAW files to avoid "over-processing," which you would want to use in higher iso's, as the jpegs are not quite as good as the F30/31fds, I believe.
As for SLR quality, you might have to wait for the Sigma DP1, as Sony are not about to release a "DSC-R2" anytime soon - the're well an truly in the SLR business now.
The F40fds are to be had at Kmart (Australia), right now for AUS: $269.
It may be last chance to buy a compact that can shoot well in low-light.
Those smarty pants that bought the last stocks of F31fds could probably sell them for twice what they paid now - the're as rare as hen's teeth, and much sought after!
Well, at least untill the first larger sensor Cmos compacts arrive - later this year?

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It's also available from our U.S. affiliate stores with the best price apparently being Amazon at US$232 with free delivery. Looks like you are getting a good deal in Canada but what's the price after shipping and tax?

.It's also available from our U.S. affiliate stores with the best price apparently being Amazon at US$232 with free delivery. Looks like you are getting a good deal in Canada but what's the price after shipping and tax?

Bob.

14% tax and free shipping.

I appologize about posting a sale price for a non-afiliated site...

Ive been on Redflagdeals too long .....its a site for cheapskates..lol

...I apologize about posting a sale price for a non-affiliated site...

Please don't worry about it, personal recommendations are welcome. Gordon is always the first to say that you should buy from the cheapest reputable store, although it's always nice if our affiliate prices are amongst the cheapest and members can help support the site. And, no, I'm not on commission!!!